Tag Archives: dressing

Hi guys! This year I’ve decided to give myself a harder challenge for Me-Made-May, and it’s definitely leading to some good thoughts about how dressing handmade pushes me towards making and wearing more of what really reflects me and how I’d like to be seen, rather than just wearing what I happen to have.

I wrote a piece about all this for Zoe, the lovely host of mmmay, and it’s on her blog today, so do head over there if you’d like to read more about what I’ve been thinking and making (the top at left) in preparation for May. Here’s my pledge for this year:

“I, Tasha of Stale Bread into French Toast, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear only garments I have made, altered, or repaired, for the duration of May 2015. The only purposeful exception will be my raincoat, which isn’t any of the above, but I will definitely wear if the need arises. Everything else is included!” Gulp!

There’s still time to sign up and participate yourself, I highly recommend it, and you can make a pledge no matter how many or few handmade things you have to wear … I hope you’ll do it with me!

Recipe time! This winter I have been making a lot of little side salads, it’s a nice way to get some green stuff without feeling overwhelmed by it, and you can change the dressing and flavors every day. This one is a favorite at my house and also uses a winter staple, beets. Beets are one thing we actually learned to love after getting a lot of them through our CSA – I also enjoy all the lovely colors they come in, including the salmon-y ones here!

The inspiration for this recipe came from an old issue of Bon Appétit, this is my simplified version.

For 2 salads:

Crumble about 2 tablespoons ofyour favorite blue cheese. I like to use Fromage Blue, a kind of creamy cross between blue and brie. You don’t have to put much else in this at all, so feel free to use really nice Roquefort or Stilton and the flavor will come through clearly.

Add a few tablespoons of heavy cream to make about the amount of dressing you want. The longer you let it sit, the more cheese will absorb into the cream and the thicker it will get. I like to leave it until the flavors are blended but it’s still liquid enough to spread over the salad. You can add more cream later if it gets too thick.

Add: About 1 tsp finely chopped shallot

A dab of stone ground mustard

A small splash of rice vinegar (or another type you like)

As you can tell, you can vary this a lot by taste. If you have really nice cheese, feel free to use only a tiny amount of the other flavors.

Stir together, let sit and then enjoy!

We like to eat this on a salad of roasted beets, romaine, and whatever other fresh veggies we have in the fridge (pea pods are especially nice in the fall) with walnuts on top.

Extra: My favorite method for roasting beets: Cut off tops and roots and place beets in a deep dish with about ½” of water in the bottom. Cover with foil and bake at 375 until beets are very tender when pierced with a fork, then let cool and peel – they’re so much easier to peel after cooking!

I'm Tasha, I'm a maker, teacher, and writer. I believe that by making and mending our own things, we can bring some much-needed joy and thoughtfulness to modern life. Feel free to look around here for tutorials and inspiration, and to reach out if you have questions!